Rotary motor



Jan; 1935. G. 'E. WATTS 1,987,882

ROTARY MOTOR Filed June 20, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 GEORGE Elm-r715INVENTOR ATTOIRNEY G. E. WATTS ROTARY MOTOR Jan. 15, 1935.

Filed Jun 20, 1933' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 650E675 '5. wArr-s ,INVENTORATTORNEY Patented Jan. 15, 1935 nomnrmoron George P -Watts, Portland;,Ore -i, I Application-June-20,'1933; Sferial NdqfilfifiSt-fi2i'Claimsv- (o1...12 1-,1ss),;

Thisiinvention. relates .to improvements in rotaryflmotors andmoreespecially to that type of motor .in...which, a piston drum isrotatably...

mounted in a cylinder eccentricth'erewith, with a plurality. of blades 1journaled. eccentric with respect to the, drum and-,proje'ctingradially; therefrom. to contact withv the cylinder walls as themdrumrotates. Thepresent invention relates toimprovements in the typeofmotorshownland described. in. Letters. Patent. of. the United States,numbered,'1,836,'03'l,. dated December 15,

1931 covering.- fAir. .motorsfj The eccentric, arrangement of the-drum..withrespectto the cylinderprovides what might be,

termed. crescent-shaped expansion chambers provided with intake and.exhaust 'ports One of theprincip'al objects ofthis presentinven'tion is,:to ,provide' a. motor of this :character 1 weightgconstruction which isparticularly adapt: edfc'ar use iniconnecti'onawith aircraftfenginesufor superchargingpthe carburetorsethereof.

Anotheruobject.ofthe invention is theprovision, .in, a, device of thischaracter, of a--seal; be-

offthej cylinder, and the. provision. of means for maintaining, the,bladesin retractedposition during their passage. through, .the sealedarea. so as nottodisturb the seal. between the-drumpand -l the cylinder;

Another, object of theeinvention istheprovision, of a: device. ofJth'is. character; whiohuwilt function over relatively long periods oftime at relatiye1y=.. high .speeds without. any mechanical failures.thereby rendering the .devic'elparticularly useful .in. connection..with the operation, I of. aircraft instruments, 1 such asgyrmcompasses,

artificial horizons, bank and turn indicators andlother similarflightinstruments which: are.

operated by air pressure or vacuum .m'echani-e cally generated withinthe airplane and applied;

to saidinstrumenta; and wherein failure of-the air. generating .01.vacuum..means would render ofjth'e aircraft.

not; prescribe the limits of utility of the. device since it obviouslyis readily adaptableto, many.

uses .yvhereina motorof. light weightper unit of horse power. and; h gh,speed dependable and durable, operation are tll'e,maini.deside'rata.

It I is ,to. beunderstood :th'at the/foregoing does Theseland other;objects will appearas-my in 2 vention ismore fully.hereinafterdescribed. in the f ollowing" specification, 7 illustratedin, the ac companying: drawings, and finally pointed out in theappended-claims In .the. drawings" v Figure. l .is .a side elevation ofmynew -and. improvedlmoton I Figure Zisan ,end elevation offFigure 1look ing. in the, direction.- of the. arrow in rl i-gure 1.-v

Figure3 is a longitudinal sectional sideelevation ofV-Figure 1;

Figure 4lis-a sectional end elevation of f lg r ure. 3 looking ,in thedirection oi, the i line in Figure 3.

Referring, now-(moreparticularly ,to, thecdrawingsz. 7

Reference numeral 1 1 indicates generally, the;

stationary main ;body, of i the.\ motor, which is ..-0

open ended cylindrical iorm provided w-ith an,2d,.

integral endiwall land a removablebelleshap d end jmember 3"which issecured to.the. .cylin ier=; 1 by; any. suitablemeanssuch, foninstanceaaf the. bolts .4. Antifriction bearings, of a em a.

able..type.such,;.for instance, asball, bearings 5 25 and 6,} aremounted Twithin. the end LWaIIs DtQtheM cylinder as...shown.. .To theouter face- 01 th'e. end member ,2 Ilmount. ahousingf 7 formed anintegral hub. 8; The .openendQof v the hous.-..

apertures.- 10 for engagementwith...a...spannensuitablefllubricant"such. as. cupffgrease or the likea To the. opposite. end Lot:thelcylinder, 1, I; 3 35,.

mount awretaining. cap .1l which is bolted to. theend wall '2 as at 12and within which I Lprovide, a packing washer or the hKeindic'a'ted at'13,. to... retain and provide lubricant for the ball bearing 5..-Withinthe cylinder 1,, and .rotatablylmoume 40,..

ed witlflf'respect thereto, is (a ,drum,14.. O'ne .e r of the drum isformed ,With' an integral 'end wal ljj l5lwh lch is provided atit's-centeiwwithlancinte' gral flangedhub 16. The hulol16 is shouldered;

race oilthe. ball bear'ingfi'. The. opposite end.) oiifthedru'm' 141sflanged as .at 1B :andTshoul-ff dered "as fat 19 ,forengagement.with'.;a 161110137 able encljb'ell 20, which at it's. central/portion;

is ..reduoed and extended intoa hollow. sh'aftI21L} '50 inghis provided'witli ,a,.closure cap",QifcirrnedQwith. 30,,.

' as .at "17" forfirm engagement with the. inner 45 i V he, align.

nermost end of the hollow shaft 21 is counterbored as at 23 to securelyengage a ball bearing 24.

From the foregoing, it is plainly seen that the drum 14, end member 20and shaft 21, all being secured together, rotate as a unit within theball bearings 5 and 6. Extending longitudinally through the drum 14 is astationary shaft 25 having one of its ends offset as at 26 and extendedthrough the end wall 15 of the drum 14 and terminating within the hub 8of the housing 7 where it is keyed to the hub by means of the key 27 tothe inner and tapered periphery of the hub 8. The outermost end of theoffset portion of the shaft is internally threaded to receive a hollowbushing 28 which is advanced on its threads until its flanged portion 29abuts the outermost edge of the hub 8 to thereby serve as a lock nut infurther securing the shaft in a fixed and immovable position withrespect to the cylinder 1. The opposite end of the stationary shaft 25is splined as at 30 for fixed engagement with a correspondingly splineddisc or plate 31 which is provided at its upper end with a. stub shaft32 which is secured to the inner race of the ball bearing 24 by adriving fit. The inner race is thereby prevented from rotating duringrotation of the drum 14 along with its end member 20 which rotatesfreely with the outer race of the ball bearing 24.

The shaft 25 is purposely made hollow to receive any approved type oflubricating wick or the like (not here shown) which may be extended fromend to end thereof and projected out through the bushing 28 into thelubricant containing housing 7 and the lubricant thus introduced intothe hollow shaft is subsequently fed out through oil holes 33 which arespaced apart throughout the length of the shaft 25 for the purposehereinafter pointed out.

Swingably mounted upon the shaft 25 are a plurality of vanes or blades34 which are shaped as shown in Figure 3, and formed with integralprojections 35 which terminate in collars or bearings 36 by means ofwhich the blades are rotatably mounted to the shaft. The oil holes 33are provided at points located within the width of each collar toprovide lubricant for each of said collars. The projections, and collarsformed integral therewith, are arranged to progressively straddle eachother. In other words, one of the vanes is formed with the innermostcollars as shown in Figure 3; the collars of the next vane straddlethese first two collars, and the collars of the last vane straddle thecollars of the other two as shown. This arrangement conserves on spacerequired for rotatably mounting all of the vanes to a common shaft.

The vanes are arranged radially at equidistant points with respect tothe inner periphery of the cylinder 1 and project through the drum 14and are slidably and rockably arranged with respect to the periphery ofthe drum by means of trunnion blocks 37 which extend throughout thelength of the wall of the drum and are rockably mounted with respectthereto by means of the substantially circular and slotted housings 38.To permit passage of the ends of the blades through the end wall 15 ofthe drum 14 and the end member, 20 thereof, I'provide slots 39 which areangular in shape, as shown in Figure 4, to permit angular movement ofthe vanes with respect to said end walls during the operation of themotor, since it is obvious that a circle described by the rotating vaneson one axis, or the shaft 25, would be eccentric with respect to thecircle described by the periphery of the drum which rotates on anotheraxis, or its aligned bearings 5 and 6.

The cylinder wall of the cylinder 1 is enlarged as at 40 into an intakechamber, and as at 41 into an exhaust chamber. The outer periphery ofthe cylinder Wall is formed with conventional cooling fins 42 and theenlarged portions 40 and 41 extend entirely through the fins throughoutthe length of the cylinder. The fins are not relieved or cut out withinthe intake and exhaust chambers but extend entirely therethrough asshown, and each of said fins within said chambers is provided with aplurality of apertures 43 in alignment with each other from end to endof said cylinder to permit free passage of intake and exhaust fluidsduring operation of the motor. The intake and exhaust chambers terminatein any approved type of couplings 44 which are formed in opencommunication with the chambers on the outermost end of the motorhousing.

In Figure 4 it will be noted that the wall of the cylinder 1 is slightlyexpanded, between the points indicated at 46 and 47, in curvilinear formto conform precisely to the outer periphery of the drum 14. Betweenthese points the drum and cylinder wall are brought into what might betermed pressureless contact with each other over a relatively large areato establish an absolute seal between the intake and exhaust chambers,as compared with motors of this character which have heretofore beencommonly constructed with the eccentrically mounted rotatable member ordrum arranged merely in linecontact with the cylinder wall. Obviously, amere line-contact between the drum and cylinder wall is totallyineffective as a seal, resulting in leakage of fluid and loss of power.

Again referring to Figure 4, it is obvious that the motor will be causedto function by reason of the intake fluid entering through the intakechamber 40 and applying its pressure to the back side of any one of thevanes 34 within the crescent-shaped expansion chamber 45 which aspreviously stated, is formed by the eccentric arrangement of the drumwith respect to the cylinder. The blade of course under pressure isdriven in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 4 until it sweepsacross the exhaust chamber at which time the expanded driving fluid isexhausted and during which rotation power is applied to the shaft 21 andis applicable therefrom to any desired use.

When it is desired to operate the device as a pump, it is obvious thatrotary motion applied to the shaft 21 will drive the blades in acorresponding rotary motion with a resultant building up of pressurewithin the expansion chamber 45 from whence it is directed out throughthe exhaust chamber 41 and applied to any desired point of use.

While I have shown a particular form of embodiment of my invention, I amaware that many minor changes therein will readily suggest themselves toothers skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope ofmy invention. Having thus described the invention, what I claim as newand desire to protect by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a rotary motor, the combination of a stationary cylinder providedwith cooling fins around its outer periphery, an integral end wall forsaid cylinder and a removable end wall for the opposite end thereof,antifriction bearings mounted within said end walls and in aligmnentwith each other, a drum rotatably mounted within said cylinder by meansof said antifriction bearings, said drum being arranged eccentricallywith respect to the cylinder, said drum being formed with a removableend wall provided with a hollow shaft extending outwardly therefrom androtatably mounted within one of said antifriction bearings, the oppositeend of said drum being formed with an outwardly projecting hub forrotatable engagement with the other of said antifriction bearingswhereby said drum is wholly rotatably supported by said antifrictionbearings, a hollow stationary shaft extending at one of its ends throughone end wall of said drum and secured to the removable end wall of saidcylinder and in alignment with said antifriction bearings, the centraland major portion of said hollow shaft being offset into alignment withthe major axis of said cylinder, a plurality of vanes rotatably mountedon said hollow stationary shaft and rotatable with said drum, said vanesslidably extending through the walls of said drum by means of trunnionblocks extending longitudinally thereof, the outermost ends of saidvanes forming pistons within the chamber formed between said drum andthe inner wall of said cylinder.

2. In a motor of the class described, the combination of a cylinderprovided with a removable wall at one of its ends and an integral wallat its opposite end, an oil reservoir mounted to said removable cylinderend wall, a hollow shaft rotatably mounted through said removable endwall and in open communication with the interior of said oil reservoir,said shaft being offset for the major portion of its length with respectto its portion that extends through the cylinder end wall, a drumrotatably mounted within the cylinder and concentrically with thatportion of said hollow shaft extending through the cylinder end wall, aplurality of vanes rotatably mounted upon the offset portion of saidshaft and extending through the walls of said drum for wiping contactwith the walls of said cylinder, a plurality of oil holes formed throughsaid hollow shaft to permit flow of lubricant from the interior of thesaid shaft to the points on said shaft where the vanes are rotatablymounted thereupon, the opposite end of said hollow shaft being splinedand engaged with a correspondingly splined disc, a projection formedeccentrically upon said disc and rotatably mounted within a bearingmounted in one end of the drum and around which said drum is free torotate with respect to said projection, and a splined shaft formedintegral with said drum end wall within which said bearing is disposed.

GEORGE E. WATTS.

